Wrexham set to snub £9m Sunderland demand and push for £3.5m Ipswich Town deal | OneFootball

Premier League Sunderland are setting the financial bar high for anyone interested in signing their back-up goalkeeper Anthony Patterson.

Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson hasn't seen that much first-team football for them since their promotion to the Premier League, but their price for him is still proving too high for Championship admirers.

Ambitious Wrexham are looking elsewhere as a result of the price tag put on the talented Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, according to reports on Sunday morning.

Patterson was unable to hold down his first-team place at Sunderland following their 2025 promotion to the Premier League and spent the second half of 2025-26 on loan at Millwall, but having returned to The Stadium of Light during the summer, the 26-year-old's future is back up in the air, with his club having set the financial bar for his services at a level which is deterring Championship interest.

Patterson has a lot of admirers amongst Championship clubs. Wrexham had been amongst them, but it now seems that they could be looking elsewhere as they seek to strengthen ahead of their bid to go one step further than their near-miss for a play-off place at the end of 2025-26.

Sunderland want a "staggering" £9 million for Anthony Patterson

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Journalist Alan Nixon reports on his Patreon that Sunderland have set the financial bar for Anthony Patterson at £9 million, a price that is deterring Championship clubs from making a move for him.

He confirms that Millwall, where the 25-year-old goalkeeper was on loan last season, and Wrexham had been amongst the clubs interested in signing him, and that there is a possibility that Sunderland's valuation could be reviewed towards the end of the window, should there be no takers.

Nixon reports that Wrexham could have been sufficiently put off to be turning their attention elsewhere. He states that their interest has switched elsewhere, and that they're now trying to close a deal for the Ipswich Town goalkeeper Alex Palmer instead, having made an offer of £3.5 million for him.

What's being said about Anthony Patterson on social media

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Anthony Patterson has been the subject of transfer speculation for a long time now, so here's what's being said about the Sunderland goalkeeper.

This fan feels that Patterson will need to move elsewhere if he wants to secure first-team football:

And this Millwall fan would love to have Patterson back at his club in 2026-27:

Alex Palmer may make better sense for Wrexham, at less than half the price that Sunderland want for Anthony Patterson

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Anthony Patterson turned out to be a victim of Sunderland's success in 2025. Having been part of the team that won promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs at the end of the 2024-25 season, the Black Cats signed Dutch goalkeeper Robin Roefs, freezing Patterson out of the first-team at The Stadium of Light.

The goalkeeper went on loan to Millwall in the January transfer window and was a success, as the Lions finished in third place in the Championship before losing in the play-off semi-finals to Hull City, and it's clear that Sunderland are not desperate to sell him, with the price tag set so high.

Figures from Fotmob.com

Although Patterson is a talented goalkeeper, it's clear that the price-tag being put on his head by Sunderland is having a deterrent effect. Wrexham's bid for Alex Palmer is £5.5 million lower than the asking price for him - more than half, and that sort of price difference means that he may offer the Red Dragons better value for money.

Palmer also found himself frozen out of first-team football in 2025-26. His last League appearance for Ipswich came against Wrexham in February, and the Tractor Boys' promotion to the Premier League makes him unlikely to be able to reclaim his first-team place in 2026-27. He is certainly a lower-cost option for Wrexham.

Anthony Patterson, however, remains in limbo for the time being. It remains to be seen whether Sunderland will cut their asking price for him before the end of August. If they don't, there's every possibility that he could be staying on the bench at the Stadium of Light for the first half of the 2026-27 season.